Thirty law firms are piloting a new rule requiring 30% of leadership candidates consist of minorities and women. The Mansfield rule, named after the first female lawyer, applies to both leadership roles and promotions to equity partner.

Logo TV released its 2017 Top 25 Trailblazing Companies for public commitment to LGBTQ people and issue advocacy. Google and Apple ranked #4 and #5 respectively. The analysis applies 7 criteria to companies that achieved a 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign 2016 Corporate Equality Index. Both tech firms got points for having an LGBT executive and inclusive advertising. Google also scored for social media and Apple for having an LGBTQ spokesperson.

Heather Haveman, associate professor of organizational behavior at Cornell's Johnson School, and her colleagues found "that a 33 percent increase in the proportion of women at the level of the job being filled, for example, led to a 77 percent increase in the probability of a woman being promoted to that job. This was true regardless of whether a firm had many or only a few female employees at those management levels. 'Clearly, the presence of women at a particular level in management ranks generates more women at that level,' Haveman said. The study also found that, contrary to common wisdom, neither the number of women at levels above the position being filled (who have been seen as mentors, advocates or role models) nor the number of women below the position being filled (who constitute the promotion pool) had strong effects on the chances of a woman being hired or promoted to that position."

What’s the value of developing great leaders? Deloitte research shows financial analysts give premium valuations to companies with excellent leadership.

Deloitte reports that: - Over half of stock market analysts evaluate corporate leadership in developing valuation estimates and - 80% of the analysts will give a higher valuation to companies with the best leadership.Article here.